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A Roma couple in Greece was charged last week with abducting a
young girl who was found living with them. What made authorities
suspect the girl wasn't the? Her blond hair and blue eyes.

The Greek Roma man and woman both have brown hair and brown
eyes. The
Roma — sometimes referred to as gypsies, although the
term is now considered derogatory — are part of an ethnic group
who live mostly in central and eastern Europe. DNA tests showed
the girl is not biologically related to the Roma couple, or to
anyone in Interpol's global database of missing people, NBC
reported.

But the case begs the question, could brown-eyed, brunette
parents produce a child with blond hair and blue
eyes ?

It's definitely possible, said Rick Sturm, a molecular biologist
at the University of Queensland in Australia. "It would not
surprise me that two Roma parents may have a blue-eyed child,"
Sturm said. [ Genetics
By the Numbers: 10 Tantalizing Tales ]

Many genes play a role in determining eye color, but a major
player is the gene OCA2, Sturm told LiveScience. One version of
the gene is linked to blue eye color, and is common in European
populations, but a person must have two copies of that version in
order to have blue eyes. Another version of the gene is linked
to brown
eye color.

If two brown-eyed parents each have one blue-eyed version of the
gene, along with one brown-eyed version of the gene, they can
pass on either version to their children. On average, one in four
of their children would receive two blue-eyed versions, and
would, therefore, have blue eyes.

Eye-color genes specify how much pigment, called melanin, is in
the circular outer structure of the eye, or iris. Brown eyes
result from an abundance of melanin, whereas blue eyes result
from reduced or absent levels of melanin. The eyes appear blue
for the same reason the sky does — blue light is scattered, while
other colors are absorbed.

As for the case of the blue-eyed mystery girl, DNA tests now
confirm a Bulgarian Roma couple
are the girl's biological parents, the BBC reported.

"Most Roma have brown hair and eyes, but there are many blond
Roma with blue eyes," said Juan Gamella, a social anthropologist
at the University of Granada in Spain.

Gamella noted that he finds the attention the case has received
troubling.

"For centuries, Roma have been falsely accused of stealing
children," Gamella told LiveScience. "In fact, it has been Roma
children who have been taken forcefully away from their parents,
often by false allegations of bad parenting."

Editor's Note: This article was updated at
1:44 p.m. ET on Oct. 25 to report that the girl's biological
parents have been confirmed.